In a conventional three-dimensional automated vehicle parking garage, mechanical elements or motorized conveyances, such as lifts (elevators), cranes, shuttle cars (moving platforms), turntables, and other mechanical elements are used to transport a vehicle from an entry/exit station at the arrival/departure level of the parking garage to a parking space in the parking garage and then retrieve the vehicle from the parking space and transport the vehicle to the entry/exit station, without human assistance.
In general, a typical automated vehicle parking garage consists of a storage (or parking) area with individual parking spaces, one or more entry/exit stations (or bays) for accepting a vehicle from a customer for parking and for delivering the vehicle to the customer upon retrieval, and motorized conveyances (mechanical elements), such as elevators and shuttle cars, used to transport the vehicle from the entry/exit station to the parking space and to transport the vehicle from the parking space to the entry/exit station for customer retrieval. The conventional three-dimensional automated vehicle parking garage is controlled and managed by a central control system based on PLCs (programmable logic controllers) or other control circuitry, and by central management software running on a central management computer that operates the central control system.
In a conventional automated vehicle parking garage, the central control system is typically resident on a PLC (programmable logic controller) or other control circuitry and the central management software is typically resident on a central management computer that receives inputs from and sends command to the various mechanical elements (e.g. elevators and shuttle cars) thus coordinating the movement of those mechanical elements in order to transport a vehicle between the entry/exit station and the parking space. If the central management computer experiences a failure, the whole management and operation of the automated vehicle parking garage is disabled thereby leaving vehicles stranded in parking spaces.